POLICE responded to reports of a man walking the streets of Darwen on a Sunday morning brandishing a baseball bat, a court was told.

Blackburn magistrates heard that Steven John Albert was seen outside a house in Lilac Grove and the bat was found in the garden of the same house.

He latter admitted he was looking for a man who had assaulted him in Darwen Conservative club the night before.

Albert, 29, of Ashton Road, Darwen, pleaded guilty to possessing an offensive weapon in a public place.

He was given a conditional discharge for 12 months and ordered to pay £50 costs.

Tom Snape, prosecuting, said Albert was first reported in Ashton Road at 11.20 am carrying a baseball bat.

He was then seen in Ratcliffe Street before police caught up with him in Lilac Grove.

When interviewed he said he had been assaulted by a man called John in the toilets of the Conservative club the previous night.

The following morning, he had gone looking for him.